The Gym Devils took a loss Friday, but ended the night by honoring six gymnasts who shined during Senior Night.
The No. 23 ASU gymnastics team (4-6, 2-5 Pac-12) posted a score of 194.975, but fell to the No. 11 Stanford Cardinal (10-3, 5-3 Pac-12), who scored a 196.475.
After a season high on vault, a total of three falls in the bars and beam events hampered the Sun Devils’ scores.
Each senior performed her last routines at Wells Fargo Arena in front of a home crowd of thousands.
On the vault, ASU’s 4-5-6 spots ended very strongly.
Senior Callie Price, the team’s vault specialist, scored a 9.825 in her final vault. Sophomore Samantha Seaman scored a 9.875 and took first in the event and second in the all-around.
Senior Beaté Jones, who took first in the all around, also tied for second on vault with a 9.850.
ASU posted a season-high 49.075.
ASU’s inability to make sharp handstands kept it from scoring high on the uneven bars.
Senior bars specialist Stephanie Hangartner placed second in the event and posted a 9.850.
The Sun Devils then saw two falls on the beam.
Freshman Morgan Steigerwalt scored a 9.825 and senior Kelly Reilly finished the event with an exhibition routine, one of many final home performances.
During their six-meet losing skid, the Sun Devils still showed improvement and aren’t far from realizing their potential.
“From here on, I think we just need to focus on certain sticks and stuff like that,” Jones said. “I felt like certain falls that we had, it was just confidence. We easily do them at practice, but it’s just when it comes to the meet. I think we have a few things we need to work on before Denver and the Pac-12s, but it’s nothing that we can’t fix.”
The Sun Devils’ last event, the floor exercise, saw success. In her final home meet, senior Madison Snowden posted a 9.750. Senior Amanda Davies tied for third on the floor, scoring a 9.825. Seaman also tied for third.
With a team that expects a lot of contributions from its underclassmen, it is the seniors’ jobs to lead and assist.
“My seniors are great leaders,” coach John Spini said. “I love them. If you think about it, three of them do one event, but they were great in their one event. They were so aggressive.”
After the meet, ASU honored its six seniors and Spini commended each one of them.
“All my seniors are special,” Spini said.
Spini’s positive feelings toward the seniors are echoed by the underclassmen.
“They help bring confidence to our team and hold us together in the gym,” Seaman said.
Reach the reporter at gdemano@asu.edu
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